This invention relates to providing wireless communications. More particularly, this invention relates to a system for transmitting service and authentication information in a manner that reduces transmissions over the system.
Wireless communications have proliferated in the last few years. For purposes of this application, wireless communications include telephone services, pagers, Internet service, e-mail, and other service provided to mobile handsets. FIG. 1 illustrates wireless network 100 providing wireless communications to a mobile handset 110. For purposes of the present discussion, mobile handset may be a cellular telephone, a pager, or any other type of device that exchanges signals with a wireless network to provide a service to a user.
Radio signals 120 are transmitted between mobile handset 110 and one of antennas 130. The antenna 130 transmits and receives radio signals 120 containing data for providing wireless services to handset 110. Antenna 130 transmits data to and receives data from a base station 140 via path 131. Base station 140 converts radios signals to signals to be transmitted over the telephone network. Each base station 140 is connected to a mobile switching system 150. Mobile switching system 150 controls which base station 140 provides service to mobile handset 110. Mobile switching system 150 also connects the base station 140 to public telephone switching network (PTSN) 160 via path 151. One skilled in the art will recognize that path 151 is a plurality of trunks that connects mobile switching system 150 to switching systems in PTSN 160.
Wireless communications are provided in the following manner. Mobile handsets enters a cell serviced by an antenna 130 and transmits a location registration request via radio signals 120 to the antenna 130. Antenna 130 passes the location registration request to the connected base station 140. The base station transmits a location registration request to mobile switching system 150 and transmits a signal to handset 110 to terminate the location registration request. Mobile switching system the forwards the request to service provider wireless server 170. Service provider wireless server 170 maintains records as to which services that mobile handset 110 receives.
Service provider wireless server 170 transmits a message to mobile switching system 150 that includes service information and authentication information to mobile switching system 150. Mobile switching system 150 in turn transmits the message to base station 140. Base station 140 uses the information to determine which services that mobile handset 110 receives and to authenticate the handset 110 when service is requested. Every time mobile handset 110 moves to a new cell, the above process is executed.
As the number of services and users of wireless communications increase, the size of each cell decreases and the number of cells increases. As the number of cells increases, the traffic over the wireless network increases. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a reduction in the amount of data transmitted over the network.
The above and other problems are solved and an advance in the art is made by the provision of a method and a system for transmitting feature and authentication information for wireless communication services. This invention reduces the amount of data transmitted over a wireless network when a mobile handset is registered in a cell. The amount of data is reduced by only transmitting the service information for a handset to a base station when the handset registers with a base station. Authentication information is only transmitted to the base station when a request for a wireless service is requested for the wireless handset. This reduces the amount of data transmitted over the wireless network since authentication data is only transmitted when service is requested.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention, wireless communication services are provided to a mobile handset in the following manner. A base station receives a location registration request from the mobile handset. In response to receiving the location registration request, the base station transmits a service information request to a mobile switching system. The base station then receives an information message from the mobile switching system in response to the service information request transmitted by the base station. The information message includes the service information for the mobile handset. When the base station receives a communication service request for the mobile handset in said base station, the base station also receives authentication information from the mobile switching system. After the base station receives the authentication information, the base station performs an authentication of the mobile handset in response to receiving the authentication information.
When the base station receives a service set-up message requesting a service for a wireless handset, the base station reads authentication information from a service information message in response to receiving a request for an incoming service to the mobile handset. The base station may then stores the authentication information in response to reading the authentication information from the service information message.
When the base station receives a request from the mobile handset for an outgoing service, the base station may determine whether the authentication information for the mobile handset is stored in a memory in the base station. If the authentication information is stored in the memory, the base station reads the authentication information from the memory. If the authentication information is not stored in the memory, the base station transmits a request to the mobile switching system for the authentication information. The base station then receives the authentication information from the mobile switching system. The authentication information may then be stored in the memory in response to receiving the authentication information.
The mobile switching system may perform in the following manner in an exemplary embodiment. First, the mobile switching system receives the service information request from the base station. The mobile switching system then generates an information message that includes the service information for the mobile handset. The information message is then transmitted by the mobile switching to the base station.
In order to generate the information message, the mobile switching system may determine whether the service information for the mobile handset is stored in a memory in the mobile switching system. If the service information is stored in the memory of the mobile switching system, the mobile switching system reads the service information from the memory.
If the service information is not stored in the memory of the mobile switching system, the mobile switching systems transmits a request for the service information to a service provider server. The service provider server transmits the service information to the mobile switching system. The mobile switching system receives the service information. After the service information is received, the mobile switching system may store the service information in the memory.
When the mobile switching system receives an authentication information request from the base station, the mobile switching system generates an authentication message including the authentication information and transmits the authentication message to the base station. In order to generate the authentication message, the mobile switching system may determine whether the authentication information is stored in a memory of the mobile switching system in response to receiving an authentication information request. If the authentication information is stored in the memory, the mobile switching system reads the authentication information from the memory.
If the authentication information is not stored in the memory, the mobile switching system transmits a request for the authentication information to a service provider server. The mobile switching system then receives the authentication information from the service provider service in response to a transmission of the request for the service information. When the mobile switching system receives the authentication information, the mobile switching system may store the authentication information in the memory of the mobile switching system for future use.